As a person travels through life, he or she may experience many emotions. Joy, sorrow, anger, excitement and others are all part of living a full life. However, if the emotion you have experienced most in life is fear, you may realize it is time to seek help, especially if the fear is because you are caught up in the horrors of human trafficking.
While each victim of this crime is different, many share similar qualities. Someone may have kidnapped you from your home, a family member may have sold you or someone tricked into leaving. Without question, you have spent much time afraid of what will happen to you and doing things you despise.
You are not alone
In this country, studies estimate that about 32 percent of reports of potential human trafficking involve people like you who arrive in the United States from other countries. You may do hard labor as a slave, or you may work in the sex trade. Someone else makes money while you suffer.
It may not bring much comfort, but the fact is that hundreds of thousands of innocent people like you enter the United States as victims of human trafficking. Many are children, but they come from all areas of life, every age group and various parts of the world. Most often, those who traffic people seek out someone who is vulnerable. For you, maybe this meant you were young, poor or alone. Maybe you ran away from home and trusted people who said they could help you.
For this reason, maybe you find it difficult to believe when someone offers to help. It is likely that those who hold you prisoner continue to remind you of the terrible things they will do if you try to leave or report their abuse. They remind you of your undocumented status in this country. However, there are protections for you.
Protections for victims of human trafficking
In Colorado, there are numerous people and agencies whose purpose is to help you and other victims to find freedom and hope. This may begin with helping you obtain a special visa status called a T visa, which grants you and other victims of human trafficking temporary immigration protection and permission to find gainful employment in return for your help in bringing human traffickers to justice.
While this may sound frightening, it may also be a bold way for you to protect others from going through the same horrors you experienced. To begin the process, you would do well to contact an immigration attorney who understands the special conditions of victims of violence. Such an advocate will guide you in the right direction to begin a new life of freedom.